


Volumes

by glass_damask



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 19:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18350081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glass_damask/pseuds/glass_damask
Summary: Archer comes to terms with his past, and his master tries to help him through it.





	Volumes

Chaldea's personal library was the closest thing Archer had to sanctuary. Given that most of the other servants don't venture into the room, except Da Vinci, whose visits had been becoming fewer and farther between, Archer unofficially made the space his own. This fact was proven in the form of the miscellaneous objects he'd left in a particular corner of the room: a small, but growing, stack of cups, plates and bowls that would disappear and build back up routinely, and a spare blanket for colder nights.

  While simply sitting in the room and doing absolutely nothing usually sufficed, Archer felt the need to busy himself every once in a while, and so he was on the lookout for a new book to read.

  He started to trail a finger along the books' spines, waiting to see if anything stood out.

   _Le Morte d'Arthur..._   _Water Margin... Legends of the Plumed Serpent..._   _The Epic of Gilgamesh_ —Archer felt himself shudder and considered not reading at all, but soldiered on anyway.

  The Heroic Spirit knew that Ritsuka had a habit of getting books on the servants she would summon, so as to have something to talk about and discuss with them—"breaking the ice," as she called it once—but he was still surprised to see  _it_ shoved into the corner of one of the shelves.

  His hand was frozen in place, his index finger lingering on the top of the book's spine. After a moment's pause he slowly drew his hand back; his index finger remained outstretched, as if still reaching for that damned book.

  He didn't even know how to react. A part of him wanted to walk away; another part of him wanted to pick it up.

  He didn't favor the latter—he briskly walked to the other end of the bookshelf, intent on putting it as far out of his mind as he could.

  This tactic worked for a few minutes—and Archer had even found himself another more interesting book—before it started to nag at him again. He sighed quietly and hesitantly walked to the other end of the room, toward  _it_.

  He was seconds away from reaching out and grabbing the book, but stopped halfway and drew his arm back stiffly to his side. He breathed in a big breath and breathed out an even bigger one, and, apparently solidifying his resolve, turned around toward a vase full of yellow carnations that rested on a nearby end table.

  He gently wrapped his hand around the vase's long neck and walked out of the room, toward the communal kitchen.

  Noticing that barely anyone was present, Archer was quick to assume that everyone was either out in the field or training.

  Everyone except for Ritsuka, apparently. The young woman was stretching up to meet a plate on a high cupboard shelf when she spotted the Archer out of the corner of her eye.

  "Oh—hi, Archer!" she said with a smile.

  Archer returned the smile and said, "Hello." He walked past her to the kitchen sink. Ritsuka continued to watch him out of the corner of her eye.

  He placed the vase directly under the sink's faucet and ran cool water for several seconds. When he turned the faucet off and carefully dragged the water-filled vase out of the sink he turned around, and nearly walked right into his Master.

  "Sorry," she apologized as she placed the plate she'd struggled to get down on the kitchen's island countertop.

  "It's quite alright," he said. Looking back in his direction, Ritsuka brought her hands out, cupped the flowers popping out of the vase and took her sweet time smelling them. Archer stood still, visibly tense. A part of him would rather be dealing with  _it_ back in the library over this somewhat awkward situation.

  She grinned into the ruffly petals and eventually took a step back. After a second to process the situation, she suddenly became aware of how long she'd been smelling the flowers in his hand, and laughed nervously.

  "Sorry about that," she started to say while pulling some loose hair back behind her ear. "I really like them."

  Archer smiled again, more out of relief than anything. "It's alright... They  _are_ very pretty, after all." He twisted the vase around in his hand, so as to see the flowers from different angles—and, by extension, prove his point.

  Before they could find out whether or not silence would make the situation anymore awkward, Archer, remembering something, said, "If you don't mind my asking..."

  The young woman had focused her attention back to her plate, but it was quickly roped back to the servant. "Yeah?"

  "Who do you plan on bringing with you into the next mission?"

  The mage's brows furrowed as she thought—probably for the first time—on the question. "Hmm, I don't really know, actually—I haven't really given it much thought."

  Her answer was honest and more than a little sheepish, but Archer was unfazed. "It's alright. With everything going on, it was unfair of me to spring such a question on you out of the blue like that."

  "Oh, no. You're fine... I really should be thinking about that stuff a lot more, though," she assured him.

  The Archer gave her a more genuine smile this time. "But don't forget to take a rest when need be."

  "Of course!" Instead of trying to keep up more conversation, the two decided to part ways for the time being: Ritsuka returning to whatever she was doing in the kitchen; Archer returning to the safety of the library.

  He placed the glass vase back where he found it and went to his seat to start his reading up again. Unfortunately, the desire to pick up a certain other book started back up, as well.

  After an eternity of staring at the same page he'd been trying to read, Archer finally gave into his curiosity.

  He closed his book and put it away before casually strolling over to  _it_. He gripped his fingers around the paperback's spine and slowly pulled it out. The spine read:

**_K. M. Ganguli                    The Mahabharata, Vol. I_ **

  Archer didn't even realize that he had been holding in his breath until it slipped out in a graceless gasp. He tried his best to shake his nervousness off as he rushed back to his seat and sat down.

  He then proceeded to stare down the book for a good minute before even opening it. The cover was nothing special, but he knew that its contents made up for that tenfold.

  Eventually, he gained the courage to open it—and so he did.


End file.
